A Strange Weekend
by Touga
Summary: Tennis Captains and Vice Captains of Tokyo's Jr. High Schools were invited to attend a seminar during the weekend which could turn out to be very interesting and terrifying for all of them. Non yaoi. Happy Halloween!
1. Default Chapter

A/N:  Second Prince of Tennis fanfic.  This won't be as long as the last time but I hope it would be just as effective.  ^^;  Nope, no yaoi here.

Disclaimer:  Characters depicted in the story aren't mine.  They belong to Takeshi Konomi.

A Strange Weekend

Syuichiroh Oishi looked up at the massive woodwork edifice in front of him as he got out of their rented service bus that drove them to their current destination. The Seigaku Vice Captain squinted his eyes against the glinting sun reflected on one of the large windows and stood staring at a two story Convention Center located way up in the mountains, in a rural community called Matsunagi, found in a rather remote part of southwestern Japan called the Chugoku Region, present day Okayama Prefecture. The place was an eight hour drive from Tokyo and he was sure everyone who came along was as tired as he was.

_Matsunagi, huh?_ He shook his head. Funny, he had never heard of the place before.

"Finally, we're here." Oishi turned and looked at the irritated speaker on his left. Hyotei Captain Keigo Atobe dropped his bag beside him and turned a critical eye on the building they were going to stay in for the weekend. "What a depressing place," he muttered. "Why they would even want us to have a seminar here is beyond me."

"Hey now, don't say such things. It's unlucky," another student said from behind. Yamabuki's Kyosumi Sengoku, a.k.a. Lucky Sengoku, grinned as he joined the two and looked up at the structure in front of them. He gave a low whistle, "Pretty big place, isn't it?"

"The building was used as an inn before the owner decided to move to another country some decades ago. It's been abandoned ever since," Hajime Mizuki of St. Rudolph Gakuen informed the others as he stood beside Lucky Sengoku. "Well, that is, until a month ago when a new owner came in and turned the place into a Convention Center," Mizuki added.

The data collector had already gathered information about the Convention Center they were going to stay in for the weekend when they were still in Tokyo. And there were quite a few _interesting_ things he learned about it. No, '_intriguing_' would be the better word, Mizuki thought. He too looked at the building's ingenious fusion of Japanese and European styles standing before him and raised an eyebrow. "It's rather well maintained for an old place."

"Yes, it is," Oishi nodded his agreement. A sudden movement on one of the windows on the right façade of the second floor caught his attention. There, he saw a young woman peering curiously at them behind the curtains. He found that a little surprising. He thought they had the place all to themselves.

The girl, he saw, was about their age. She had long black hair cascading over small shoulders, with an almost ethereal glow surrounding her. She had milky white skin, with a sad expression on her beautiful face. Oishi wondered about it. Suddenly, the girl turned her head and their eyes met. Oishi felt as if he had a hundred butterflies in his stomach. She really was beautiful, he thought, feeling a little light headed.

"_Doshita_, Oishi?" Noticing the look on the vice captain's face, Kunimitsu Tezuka, the Seigaku Captain, asked as he stepped beside Oishi, his traveling bag slung over his left shoulder.

"Ah, _nande mo nai_," Oishi answered as he turned toward Tezuka. He shook his head to regain his composure. "I just didn't expect that there were other guests besides us who are staying over at the center."

"Other guests?" Lucky Sengoku echoed. "Where?"

"I saw one on the third window from the right, second floor," Oishi replied then looked up. And so did the others. But the girl wasn't there anymore, only the slight movement of the curtains signaled her departure. "Oh, she's gone."

"She?" Sengoku stepped forward and peered at the said window. "Ah, so we have girls in the house?" He grinned. "Lucky! And here I thought I was going to spend my weekend with just you boring guys. What'd she look like? Is she pretty?"

"Beautiful," Oishi amended with a smile. "Totally different from city girls."

"Hmm…" Mizuki said, a thoughtful expression settled on his face, a hint of a teasing smile crossed his lips as he turned toward Oishi, "so that's your type, eh, Oishi-kun?"

"E-Eh?" Oishi stuttered. "N-No! I was only---"

"She's probably just one of the servants preparing our rooms," Atobe said in that condescending way of his as he shrugged, unwittingly saving Oishi's life from the hands of the scheming Mizuki. He, too, saw the girl Oishi was talking about but quickly dismissed the matter. Talking about the girl was not something worth his time. Instead, he took out a copy of their schedule. "Leadership Training, huh? As if I needed something like that," he scoffed. "Two days in this godforsaken place with nothing to do but listen to some old jerk drone for hours. Now I wish I didn't go."

"Oi, Atobe," a voice from behind the group called the Hyotei Captain. Atobe turned to look at Fudomine's Captain, Kippei Tachibana, standing on the bus steps. "You left Akutagawa inside. You better wake him up before the bus leaves for Tokyo."

"Wake him up, Kabaji," Atobe started to snap his fingers, a force of a habit whenever he ordered the junior, but stopped himself. He had almost forgotten that his shadow wasn't there with him.  The purple haired _buchou_ released a long sigh as he turned and stepped inside the bus. Here in this remote area, he had to do everything himself. Even the task of waking the sleepyhead Jirou up rested on his arrogant shoulders.

"Come on, everyone," Kentaroh Minami, Yamabuki Jr. High's Tennis Club Captain, said as he followed Yoshirou Akazawa, St. Rudolph's _buchou_, walk toward the Center with the rest of the group, "let's go in."

* * *

The orientation was scheduled at 2:00 that Saturday afternoon. The students, in their respective school uniforms, made their way to the conference room after they settled their bags in their assigned rooms and finished unpacking. Out of the hundred and eight junior high schools in Tokyo which should result in a rough estimate of 200 students present in the seminar, less than a hundred came to Matsunagi. The invited guests were each school's Tennis Club captain and vice captain. Some accepted the invitation, others decided on a no-show which irritated Atobe even more for he too didn't want to go.

The seminar, he was told, was about the rapid growth of popularity of tennis in Japan. The speaker, an old goat of a man in a dark gray suit who now stood before them on the stage, said that new and very talented players had shown up in the tennis world. A new chapter was unfolding and these selected students should guide their teams to greater heights. As a huge fan of the said sport himself, he was glad that… _blah_… _blah_… _blah_…

Atobe leaned back on the soft cushions of his chair as he scanned the air-conditioned room with a bored look. His gaze settled on the boy on his right and sighed. Jirou Akutagawa sat there, oblivious to the world as he snored his life away. At that moment, he wished he could be like the sleepy boy so that he didn't have to suffer the boring talk which could last for hours. Next to Jirou, Syuichiroh Oishi and Kunimitsu Tezuka, who he considered his rival among all the players he had faced, sat. His eyes narrowed at the silent, expressionless captain.

He was definitely going to challenge Tezuka to a match tomorrow to see who between them really was the better player.  After the rehabilitation he received in Germany, Tezuka was going to fight him in his best form, Atobe was sure.  He suddenly felt anticipation and adrenaline rush through his bloodstream.  He was even starting to hear good sounds.

He couldn't wait…

Kippei Tachibana, who sat some two seats before him, caught his attention.  The dark haired Fudomine _buchou_ seemed uninterested in the topic and was looking around the room himself.  A small smirk formed on Atobe's lips.  How unexpected of the strict Tachibana.  His companion, whatever his name was, was doing a better job than he was at listening to the speaker.

* * *

"That was a long orientation, ne, Tezuka?" Oishi commented as he, Tezuka, and Atobe walked toward their room after the three-hour talk.  The room arrangements forced the representatives of the two rival schools to share a room for the duration of their stay in the convention center.  Just like with St. Rudolph and Fudomine in another room, Yamabuki Jr. High and Gyokurin in another, and so on.

"I was barely listening," the Seigaku Vice Captain confessed with a sheepish smile.

"Neither was I," Atobe shrugged his arrogant shoulders.  "We shouldn't feel bad though.  Jirou was sleeping the whole time---" The Hyotei Captain stopped in his tracks when he finally realized that he left his teammate in the conference room.  He almost sighed in resignation.

"We… forgot Akutagawa inside," Oishi's eyes widened when he, too, realized that one of them was missing.  "I really think he should see a doctor," the vice captain continued, frowning in worry as he remembered Akutagawa's unusual behavior during their matches, "He could be suffering from narcolepsy, you know?  Well, not that I've heard a cure for that particular dysfunction yet but. . ." Oishi continued on to his one-sided tirade, once again getting himself worried silly, even though the person concerned was not a member of his own team.  He was always behaved like so.  And it was no wonder that Syuichiroh Oishi was being called _Seigaku's Mama_.  Tezuka, on the other hand, remained expressionless.

"He's fine.  He's just usually unmotivated," Atobe cut in, waving the sub-captain's unfounded worries with a careless hand as he turned around to return to the A/V Room, "I'll get him."

Both watched until the Hyotei Captain disappeared inside the room.  Oishi sighed as he leaned on the wall while they waited for their roommates to return.  "I hope the others are doing all right back in Tokyo," he remarked thinking of the rest of the Seigaku Regulars, the worry he built up a moment ago simultaneously transferring to his team.  "Inui called me this morning.  He said he spotted Echizen and Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter going inside an ice cream parlor on Main Street," he shrugged, "I didn't get much detail since we're already climbing up the mountain and the signal was getting weaker."

Tezuka remained silent as he listened.

"But I did hear the word 'date' before the line was completely cut off," he continued, "It could be another misunderstanding but. . ."

"Inui was always too enthusiastic about his data gathering."

Oishi couldn't agree more. "The worst part of the call was Eiji and Momo were there.  I could hear them in the background, yelling that if they didn't move now, they won't know what the two were talking about," he turned toward the captain, trying his best not to show he was panicking but was failing miserably.  He just couldn't forget that time Inui informed him that Momo and Echizen were going to duel with a date in line.  It wasn't true, of course, but the trouble it had caused made him sick with worry.  "With those three stalking Echizen around the district, everything was bound to get messy!  I wouldn't even be surprised if Fuji, Taka-san, and Kaidoh find themselves somehow involved in it!"

"You're getting worked up again, Oishi."

The vice captain sighed and was about to say more when Kiichi Kuki, Kakinoki Jr. High's Tennis Captain, suddenly appeared behind them.  Tezuka and Oishi turned to face him as he approached them.  The last time they saw him was during the district tournament.  They thought Kakinoki would be the runner-up, same as the last year, until the unseeded Fudomine appeared and wiped them out.

"_Yo_, Oishi," Seigaku's _fuku _buchou almost swore he saw the scar under Kuki's left eye twitch when the brown haired captain stopped before them, a smirk on his lips.  Oishi frowned when Kuki pointedly ignored Tezuka, not even acknowledging him even when he was standing right in front of him.  Was the Kakinoki Captain still bitter about his lost against Tezuka?  "We're planning to do a little card game tonight after dinner.  And thought maybe you'd like to join us," Kuki continued and shrugged, "It gets a little boring around here, you know?  No television, no radio."

Was he implying that hanging around with Tezuka and the Hyotei students would undoubtedly bore him?  "I'll think about it, Kuki," Oishi nevertheless answered politely, "_Domo_."

"You do that," he answered and waved a dismissive hand as he walked away. "And extend the invitation to Hyotei if you want to."

"_Ano yaro_," Oishi said and shook his head when Kuki disappeared from his sight, "he never fails to annoy people somehow, doesn't he?"

Tezuka didn't bother to answer him as Atobe and Akutagawa walked back toward them, the exasperated captain telling his companion off not to just fall asleep anywhere.  It was becoming troublesome.  Akutagawa merely answered with a sleepy _hai_, scratched his head and yawned.

"I knew I should've asked Yuushi to accompany me instead of Jirou," Atobe muttered under his breath when they reached the Seigaku students.

"Hyotei's _tensai_?  I didn't know he was your vice captain," Oishi remarked as the group continued to go back to their assigned room, "Why isn't he available anyway?"

"He's on a European tour with his family," Atobe answered, "And he's not the vice captain.  Sakaki-sensei didn't even appoint one."  The arrogant captain ran a hand through his purple hair.  "After all, the only thing that matters is the strongest player in the team.  And that would be me."

_Insert loud applause and ear-piercing screams by fan girls here_, Oishi thought dryly, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

* * *

Akira Kamio led Tachibana, Akazawa, and Mizuki as they toured around the Convention Center.  The long orientation finally ended and Kamio could not help but feel annoyed that he accepted the invitation to the seminar.  The place was a bore!  The Recreation Rooms wouldn't be opened until 5 pm that afternoon.  The swimming pool located at the rear of the building was undergoing cleaning.  And the tennis courts, which were the only available facility during that time, were packed by other players.

Kamio almost got down to his knees and thanked Kami that he had the hindsight to bring his MD player along.  It could save him from completely losing his mind!

"Your annoyance is rather obvious, Kamio-kun," Mizuki chuckled from behind him which irritated the 'speed demon' even more.  "Well now, perhaps I can alleviate your boredom with some facts about this place I acquired back home," he took out his Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) from the back pocket of his trousers, unhooked the stylus, and began tapping at the small screen on his palm.

With the lack of anything better to do, Kamio shrugged and slowed his pace until he matched Mizuki's, which resulted to Tachibana walking ahead of them, Kamio and Mizuki behind him, and Akazawa bringing up the rear.  Kamio peered over the data collector's shoulder, wanting to know what facts the little electronic gadget had about the Convention Center.

"Most of my info is in my Macintosh but I left it in the room.  The data here will suffice," Mizuki said as he scrolled down the screen and clicked on the right file, "Ah, here it is.  The Matsunagi Convention Center."

"Ah, _gomen_," it was said in a low voice but Akazawa, Mizuki, and Kamio heard it clearly.  All three glanced up just in time to see Tachibana sidestep as he allowed someone to pass by him.  It was a natural occurrence to apologize if you blocked someone's path and to move a little to let that person walk by.  The three were prepared to forget about the subject and go back to what they were doing before Tachibana spoke up.  Really, they were.  But one problem kept nagging at them as they turned to look at one another in confusion.

The well lighted corridor was empty except for the four of them.

"Tachibana-san," Kamio called to his captain when he was about to walk away, "did you just say '_gomen_'?"

Tachibana stopped and turned to look at his companions, "Hm?"

"Ah, so Tachibana-kun can see _them_, eh?"  Mizuki cut in before Kamio could repeat his question, a knowing smile on his lips as his eyes surveyed the area.  "How many are there?"

Even if Tachibana did not dignify the question with an answer, the way Mizuki said the word '_them_' caused chills to run down Kamio's arms.

Mizuki couldn't have meant what he thought he meant, could he?

Akazawa scoffed, "What?  Don't tell me there are ghosts around here?"

"Why, _buchou_," Mizuki raised his eyebrows as he turned to look at St. Rudolph's Captain, "don't you believe in ghosts?"

"T-Tachibana-san, Mizuki-san's just making it up, right?"

When Tachibana remained silent, Kamio paled.  _Masaka. . ._

"Yes, my friends," Mizuki chuckled rather mischievously as he looked from Kamio to Akazawa and back, "this place _is_ haunted."


	2. And The Haunting Starts

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate them very much. I hope the story keeps your interest until the end. The ghost stories in this chapter were based on true-to-life experiences collected from local friends who have their "third-eye" open and acquaintances who have had their frightening and disturbing experiences of the paranormal. Then again, it's up to you to believe them or not, though we can just view this as just an exchange of ghost stories, can't we? Gomen for not updating any sooner but here's the second chapter.

Disclaimer: Characters depicted in the story aren't mine. They belong to Takeshi Konomi.

A Strange Weekend

Kentaroh Minami sighed and dropped his Gameboy beside him as he lay alone and bored on the bottom bunk on one of the double decked beds inside the room. The Yamabuki Reps were sharing rooms with Gyokurin according to their sleeping arrangement. And Minami, who preferred staying inside the room instead of roaming around the center, retired to his room right after dinner, clicked on the air conditioner, kicked his shoes off, settled himself on the bottom bunk, and focused his attention on the little gadget in his hand.

Not an hour passed when he got bored with the console. He sighed yet again. He never thought that playing Castlevania could get boring in the end. Imagine that. _Castlevania._

Minami turned his head from the Gameboy and stared blankly at the mattress above him. The steady humming of the air conditioner and the stillness of the room was slowly lulling him to sleep, despite the fact that it was only eight in the evening which was too early for bed, wasn't it?

As he was about to close his eyes, he witnessed the mattress above him dip with weight, as if someone suddenly occupied the top bunk. Frowning, he slowly sat up, his eyes not leaving the mattress. How odd, he thought to himself. He was alone in the room, wasn't he? And he never saw nor heard anyone enter the room. Then what---?

To his utmost surprise, a cute, _genki_ girl of ten, suddenly popped her head from the top bunk, her long brown curls forming a silken curtain as she hung herself upside down from the top railing as a child would when she wanted to peek at the occupant of the bunk below.

The girl smiled at him and greeted him a cheerful, "_Oyasumi nasai_!"

And her head promptly fell to the floor, her decapitated body hanging lifelessly from the top bunk.

Due to mostly shock than confusion, it took Minami quite a while to react. When he finally did, he screamed his lungs out. And with a springy, cat-like movement Kikumaru would surely envy, he dived out of his bed and shot out of the room without a backward glance.

* * *

Kunimitsu Tezuka looked up from his McBain novel when he sensed that someone was standing close behind him, when he felt that someone was rudely stepping in his personal space, looking over his shoulder. He swiveled around in his chair and scanned the room. He was alone; except for Akutagawa who was sleeping soundly on the top bunk of Hyotei's double decked beds inside their spacious sleeping quarters.

Oishi and Atobe weren't around. They decided to go to the recreational facilities offered in the center after dinner to stop themselves from getting bored to tears, leaving the Seigaku Captain with his detective novels in the room.

Gray eyes scanning the area, Tezuka took in the stillness inside the room, missing absolutely nothing as his sharp gaze darted from one corner to another. When he was satisfied that nothing was amiss, he set aside the strange feeling of someone watching him and returned to his book.

"Tezuka. . ." As he was about to continue reading, he heard a faint voice call his name, coupled by a soft feminine laughter. The sound echoed eerily inside the room, causing him to look up from his book again.

All of a sudden, the study table before him creaked as if someone sat on it.

His face remaining expressionless, he looked impassively at the table, pushed his glasses up his nose, and continued reading, promptly ignoring _whatever_ was inside the room with him.

* * *

"One lousy billiard table, a ping pong table, and the rest are work-out apparatuses," Atobe said sourly, impeccably describing the amenities inside the Convention Center's recreational room, "What a total letdown."

"Good thing we're only staying here until tomorrow," Oishi shook his head. He, too, was disappointed to find how lacking the center was when it came to entertainment purposes. He couldn't even find a decent aquarium! "The tennis courts and the swimming pool are occupied by the other students to the point of overflowing," he sighed, "guess we're going back to the room, huh?"

Atobe shrugged his arrogant shoulders, "Didn't they say they were showing a movie in one of the halls?"

"Yeah," Oishi winced, "Titanic."

"Oh, please," the Hyotei Captain closed his eyes in exasperation as he led the way back to the east wing where their sleeping quarters was located. "I knew I shouldn't have come. This place is a complete bore. I should have---"

"Do you hear that?" Oishi cut off Atobe in mid sentence as he stopped in his tracks and looked around the long empty hallway. The Hyotei Captain frowned at being interrupted but he nevertheless kept quiet and listened. He looked at the Seigaku Vice Captain and raised an eyebrow to show his annoyance.

"Hear what?"

"Someone's crying," Oishi answered, completely missed seeing Atobe's irritated expression when he walked toward a closed door on his right. "It's coming from here," he whispered, pointing to the room, "maybe someone's hurt?"

"I don't really care."

"I'm going to check it out anyway," Oishi insisted and squatted before the door, leveling his eyes on the keyhole to see for himself that the occupant in the room was all right.

"You realize that you're peeping, don't you?"

Oishi ignored the egotistical captain's sarcastic remark and peeked inside. There he saw a girl in white crouched in a corner in misery, her back was to him, her shoulders shaking in grief. "It's that pretty girl I saw this morning," he backed from the door and stood up. "Now that I think about it, this is the same room that's facing the driveway where we got off."

"Ah, the cleaning girl. Yeah, I, too, saw her."

"I don't think she's just a cleaner," Oishi replied dryly and motioned toward the keyhole, "go take a look."

"You expect _me _to lower _myself_ to peeking?"

"I'm asking you to take a quick look. If you think she'll be all right, then we leave. If not, we knock and ask her if she's okay."

"You're too _caring_," Atobe spouted the word as if it was offensive and looked disgustedly at the closed door, "it sickens me." And perhaps because he suddenly discovered an altruistic side to his nature, or perhaps because he was just plain curious about the crying girl, that he bent toward the keyhole and took a look inside the room. "All I see is red," he said after a short while and straightened up, "there's nothing there."

"Eh? Red?" Oishi asked, a confused frown marring his brows. He moved back toward the door and peeked in the hole again. And true to Atobe's words, all he could see was red. "Maybe she covered the hole with something?"

"Realized you were peeking, didn't she?" Atobe sneered.

"I was not peeking! I was just---"

"And what are you boys doing there?" A loud voice suddenly boomed behind them, causing Oishi to start up in immediate attention. He quickly spun around to face the newcomer while Atobe calmly pocketed his hands and watched Oishi bow low countless of times before the man. "_S-Sumimasen_!" The Seigaku _fuku_ buchou apologized, his cheeks turning red with embarrassment at being caught peeking in a keyhole, "You see, _sensei_, we were just worried about the girl inside this room. . ."

"A girl? In this room?" The man they recognized as one of the speakers during the orientation asked in disbelief as he looked from them to the closed door and back again. "In _this_ room?" He asked again.

This old man couldn't be hearing impaired, could he? Atobe thought and slightly frowned at him. Oishi, on the other hand, nodded his head. "_Hai, sensei,_ she was crying and we thought---"

"Nobody's using this room," the man said quietly as he looked from Oishi to Atobe, "It's been abandoned for months now."

"But the girl. . . I just saw her this morning from the driveway. And she's inside right now."

"There really is no one using this room. It's best that you forget what you saw and---"

"You're not telling us that what we just encountered was a ghost, are you, _sensei_?" Atobe cut in with a smirk. Surely he wasn't trying to scare them with a stupid ghost story? He, too, saw the girl that morning looking at them from the window. And she was real, not just a figment of his imagination.

He, Keigo Atobe, never believed in ghosts.

"As a matter of fact, I am," the _sensei_ replied with a solemn nod and pulled out a set of keys. He sifted through them until he found the right one. Unlocking the door, the man pushed it open and true enough, the room looked like it hadn't been opened nor cleaned for ages. The room smelled old and musty, causing both students to move a step back as dust flew around when the sudden breath of air entered the room. "Stories about a beautiful girl haunting this room had always run around the center ever since I first came here. Previous guests had also claimed of seeing her standing by the window or of hearing her crying inside."

Oishi, with a worried look on his face, looked at the impassive Atobe whose smirk now gone as he continued to gaze at the room. The Seigaku Vice Captain sighed and returned his gaze to the large room. Was this going to be another one of those scary episodes in his life? He had enough of the one with the cursed racquet back in Tokyo. And now this?

"And what's scary about the girl haunting this room," the man continued, hurriedly closing the door as if something would suddenly appear before them, "was that she has red eyes."

* * *

Kyosumi Sengoku yawned as he lazily slumped back on one of the cushioned chairs in the lobby. He had just finished a match with Ginka's Doumoto in table tennis, and won by a mile. Due to the limited recreational facilities, the matches were scheduled and each interested student was only given enough time for one match. Lucky Sengoku was quite disappointed that his match only lasted for a few minutes since his opponent didn't even put up an even fight. Then again, thinking about disappointment would just chase away luck.

"You look bored, Sengoku-kun," Mizuki remarked with a sly grin as he and Kamio entered the large lobby. "I just got rid of Kamio-kun's ennui here with an interesting story," he said pointing to a very pale, very disturbed Fudomine junior lagging behind him, "would you like to hear it?"

"Go crazy. Anything's bound to be better than silence," Sengoku shrugged.

"All right then," Mizuki smiled meaning fully as he sat on the cushioned chair across the Yamabuki student, "Did you know that Tachibana-kun can see. . . dead people?"

Kamio was about to tell Mizuki to stop when Sengoku laughed out loud, "What's this? A movie tie in of some sort?"

"Laugh all you want, Sengoku-kun," Mizuki replied, his smile widening a bit, "but it's the truth. This place is---"

"It's haunted!" Oishi's frantic voice drifted from the hallway and into the lobby, causing Kamio to snap to attention and whirl around just in time to see Oishi and Atobe pass by the large, open double doors of the lobby.

"It is not," Atobe replied in exasperation, "the old man was just making it up."

"She has red eyes, Atobe," Oishi persisted, "That's what we saw when we looked through the keyhole. Her eyes! She was looking straight at us!" Chills ran through Oishi's arm at the thought of a mere two-inch door as the only thing separating them from _her_. "You saw her this morning too, didn't you?"

Before Atobe could reply, Kamio ran after them down the hallway and demanded in a rather high pitched voice, "You know about this place?"

Atobe stopped and spun around to look at the Fudomine junior who appeared behind them. He then turned to Oishi and asked, "Someone you know?"

Oishi sweatdropped while Kamio sputtered incoherently behind them which highly amused Atobe. "He's Fudomine's Speed Demon, Akira Kamio," Oishi answered, "Momoshiro mentioned you had a doubles match with both of them before."

"Darned right you did!" Kamio couldn't resist saying as he walked toward the two, "You've even been hitting on Ann-chan!"

"Who?"

"Ann-chan!" Kamio repeated, "Tachibana _buchou_'s _imouto_!"

When Atobe appeared thoughtful, Kamio continued, "You know? She's this tall," he leveled a hand to his chin, "and she's got light brown hair, and she wears hairclips on each side, and---"

"Ah, Momoshiro's fiery girlfriend," Atobe said, remembering how she dared to slap his beautiful face when he goaded her for a date with him and Kabaji. And then finding both her and Momoshiro playing street tennis a few weeks later, right before the Kantou Tournament.

"She is _so_ not Momoshiro's girlfriend!" A vein pumped in Kamio's red head.

"Really?" Atobe asked with raised brows, "They were rather _very_ familiar with each other when we saw them playing tennis together." He chuckled when he remembered that particular incident, "They were so engrossed with each other that it took quite a while for them to notice us."

"I knew there was something going on with those two," Mizuki suddenly materialized behind Kamio, his finger twirling a lock of curly dark hair as was his habit whenever he was planning something. "So it was really a date that time, eh?"

"It was not!" was Kamio's frustrated reply.

"Something might be happening between those two right now as we speak," Mizuki insisted, "And you can't do anything about it because you're stuck here."

"But that's not---"

"Lolly gagging around her while a rival's free to do anything back in the city?" Atobe interrupted and shook his arrogant head, "How sad."

"I'm telling you, they're not---"

"Momo has his hands full with Kaidoh being his rival," Oishi interjected thoughtfully. "I don't think he'll be happy with another one."

"Since when did that porcupine head become my rival?!" Kamio almost screamed in frustration.

"Ah, so you've giving up on your _buchou_'s_ imouto_?" Mizuki asked.

"I never said---"

"_Are_? Minami, what's wrong?" Whatever Kamio was about to say was cut off by the Seigaku _fuku buchou_ as he watched the Yamabuki _buchou_ walk toward them, his features pale and his body slightly trembling.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Mizuki added meaningfully as he smirked.

"Eh?" Kamio commented without thinking, "Is it because of the hair? And here I thought his hair has always been like that, unruly sticking out on all places."

Coughing to hide a little chuckle, Atobe turned away from the group who had found Minami's current state entertaining and entered the lobby where he found Sengoku lazing around and looking up at the high ceiling. "What are you doing?" He was loathe to ask but he did nonetheless with a raised brow. He stopped a meter away from him, pocketed his hands in his trousers, and tipped his head backward to look at the ceiling.

"Counting lizards."

A long silence settled between them before Atobe replied, "There aren't any."

"I know," Sengoku took his eyes off the ceiling and met Atobe's bored gaze, "Isn't that strange?"

"How so?"

"No lizards means no insects," Sengoku explained, "which is rather impossible since we're on a mountain. It's like this place isn't normal, not real, like we know we're here but it doesn't feel like we're here. It's like we're in a dream sequence. And that's not all. I couldn't help but feel that someone's always watching us, spying on our every move. And I couldn't even sense luck coming inside the center, as if something we don't understand was blocking the outside world from us. So I reached a conclusion after all these."

"And that is?"

"The pair of shoes I bought recently for this trip was unlucky."

Silence.

"You lost me," Atobe replied.

"I know," Sengoku yawned and returned his gaze on the ceiling, "I'm bored."

* * *

Jiroh Akutagawa suddenly sat up from his bed, causing Tezuka to look up from his book. Akutagawa scratched his head and yawned as he climbed down from the top bunk. "Toilet," he muttered to himself, yawned again and stepped out of the room, leaving the room ajar.

Tezuka didn't bother getting up and closing the door after him. The _nebotsuki_ (sleepyhead) would undoubtedly be quick anyway, since he left the door wide open.

Tachibana, who occupied the next room, was on his way to the lobby when he noticed that the Seigaku/Hyotei room was open. Normally, he would ignore the room and just get on with his business. But the place was not normal and what he saw inside stopped him cold.

A young woman with pale skin and long ebony black hair was draped over the Seigaku Captain's shoulders while he sat quietly by the window with a book in hand. The woman was resting her face beside the oblivious Tezuka's and was _reading_ with him as she absently stroked his bronze colored hair.

"Tachibana," it took quite a while for the Fudomine _buchou_ to realize that Tezuka had acknowledged him. And that he was already standing by the doorway. Tachibana's gaze quickly settled on the unknown woman as she slowly extricated herself from Tezuka, with a small wicked smile dancing on her beautiful pale face.

_I will soon take him away_. She seemed to tell Tachibana as she glided backward and disappeared into the wall behind her.

"Tezuka," Tachibana started quietly after he finally collected himself, "you shouldn't be here. You have to go. Now."

"I was invited for the seminar."

"I know but that's before---" he shook his head and tried again, "You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous." Especially now that an unknown entity was after him. "Your presence here can become a threat to everyone and that---"

"Eh? Fudomine's _buchou_?" Akutagawa suddenly appeared beside Tachibana, cutting the captain in mid sentence, "Did you want something?"

Tachibana contemplated if he should tell the Hyotei student what he saw but voted against it. It would only make him sound crazy, and no doubt Tezuka was thinking of the same thing. Besides, what could Akutagawa do? Sleep on it? He shook his head and answered, "No, nothing important." He turned to leave, but not before he shot Tezuka a final warning glance.

* * *

"St. Rudolph is a Christian school," Mizuki was saying as he and the rest sat comfortably in a cluster of cushioned seats in the spacious lobby, "Of course, that goes without saying," he amended quickly with little irritation when he saw Atobe raise an eyebrow which subtly meant 'That's quite obvious since the word _Saint_ was attached to it'. Mizuki decided to ignore the Hyotei student's condescending manner. "And because of this," the data collector continued, "stories about headless priests walking around the campus at night are rampant."

Oishi, Kamio, Minami, and Mizuki joined Atobe and Sengoku in the lobby after Minami told them of his experience inside his room. He was swearing that he was never going to sleep there until Oishi helpfully pointed out that he and three others were going to occupy the quarters later that night.

The fear tended to ease up when there were more people around, did it not?

"Besides," Sengoku, a skeptic through and through, added jokingly when he heard what happened to his teammate, "I would be the one to occupy the top bunk tonight. So I would be the one sleeping beside a headless specter." And then he laughed.

The atmosphere lightened up a bit. Sengoku and Atobe's disbelief of such paranormal occurrences somehow influenced the others into not believing it themselves. Oishi and Minami may have experienced them first hand but they were willing to forget it if the others were. Besides, maybe they were just scaring themselves silly?

Minami and Oishi were starting to feel better already.

Until Mizuki introduced ghost story-telling. "We have this little chapel in school," he was saying as a wicked grin started to form on his lips, "and I hear it was one of the most haunted places in our _gakuen_." He sat back in his chair and started to twirl his hair around a finger. "Years ago, there was a _senpai_ who had a frightening experience in the said chapel. It was exams week during that time and she had decided to pay a quick visit to pray for good results in her tests. Since it was early in the morning, she found the room all to herself.

"She knelt, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands in silent prayer. She had been like that for quite some time until she heard a sudden shuffling sound inside the chapel. She opened her eyes and found herself face to face with a bloody face of an old man staring straight at her. Fear paralyzed her and she could do nothing but watch as the old man opened his mouth and cried a weak '_T-Tasukete. . ._' And then he disappeared."

"W-What happened to the _senpai_?" Kamio asked after a long silence.

"She fainted," Mizuki answered, "And that's how another student found her."

"And I take it the chapel was closed down after such an incident?" Atobe asked with detached curiosity.

"They didn't have to," Mizuki answered, "No student even wanted to go near it again."

"I have a story to tell myself," Oishi finally spoke up after a long while, with five pairs of eyes turning to him as he spoke. "My uncle, Akitaka Sensei, worked in a hospital up North. And this happened to a colleague of his.

"He was doing his usual rounds late one night. But that particular night, he had to go to the basement, to the morgue, to check on the attendant's list about a particular. . ." Oishi paused and shook his dark head, "Anyway, that's irrelevant. After he finished whatever it was to be done, he went straight to a bank of elevators and waited. When the doors finally opened, he stepped in and nodded to the only passenger in the car who was a hospital patient. Suddenly, a young girl dressed in her hospital gown came running from the morgue, waving her hand wildly to catch their attention, crying, 'Wait for me! Please hold the door!'

"But my uncle's colleague ignored her, stepped forward and pushed the button to close the elevator door. When the car started moving, his fellow passenger almost reprimanded him, saying, 'Er, that was that a little rude, wasn't it, _sensei_?' The doctor merely looked back at the patient and shrugged, 'That girl was pronounced dead earlier today. There was a red tag on her right wrist. That usually means that a patient's passed away.' His fellow passenger's eyes rounded then he held up his right arm and asked, 'Ah, you mean a tag like this?'"

The silence that followed the story was deafening.

"I bet the _sensei_ fainted after something like that," Minami made a face and shook his head. "Imagine yourself being trapped in such a small place with a dead guy."

"Next to a cemetery, a hospital's one of the places most haunted by ghosts," Mizuki supplied. "People die in there almost every day."

"Ghost stories, huh? I have one of my own," Sengoku said somberly, surprising the other five by what he said, the grave expression on his face making them blink their surprise. And here they thought he didn't believe in ghosts? "My cousin works in Tokyo's Central Business District. His office is located on the thirty first floor of a high rise building. He's an architect and they usually stay late in the office to finish projects.

"I remember him saying that it was a Friday night when it happened. The rest of his colleagues had already left the office for a little night out in the city. He was left alone in the office, adding some finishing touches to the model they were presenting on Monday. It was past midnight when he finished and the building was empty except for the guards doing their rounds. Anyway, he was waiting in the floor lobby for the elevator to arrive. When the doors swished open, he pressed the button for the ground floor. The car started to move but to his utmost surprise, it started to go up.

"The elevator stopped on the topmost floor which wasn't even occupied to his knowledge. A young woman was waiting on that particular floor. He said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Black curly hair fashionably framed rosy white cheeks, her lips red and full, and her body was, he said, to _die_ for. The woman smiled at him as she stepped inside the elevator. And they finally started to descend.

"My cousin was a little uneasy since he had heard of the ghost stories running around the building, especially about the elevator apparitions. And for the longest time he had worked in that building, he had never seen the woman standing beside him before. After all, what was she doing inside the building this late at night? He couldn't wait for the car to reach the ground floor. Just as they were reaching the 13th floor, the car suddenly stopped and darkness swallowed them both. My cousin, with cold sweat breaking on his face and neck, felt the hairs on his nape prickle. He was about to punch the call button when suddenly, a smell most foul permeated in the air. The stench of a decaying corpse assailed his nostrils and he almost gagged.

"Light finally returned and the elevator started to move again. He said that only about ten seconds passed but to him, it was the longest ten seconds in his life. Of course, he refused to look at the woman beside him, fearful of what he would see. He trained his eyes on the switchboard, silently counting down the floors. Five. Four. Three. . . And suddenly, the woman beside him softly spoke, '_Ano_, _gomen_ about a while ago, my stomach's been acting up lately. It must have been something I ate.'"

Sengoku waited in anticipation for each one's reactions.

"That was the most disgusting story I've ever heard!" Atobe was the first one to recover. And despite his best intentions to remain blasé, he laughed quietly.

"It was just a joke," Oishi shook his head in disbelief and started to chuckle while Minami sighed and rubbed his temples. He then laughed at his friend's humor. He should have known.

"For a while there, I thought. . ." Kamio scratched his head and leaned back on his seat. Then he laughed as well. "That really _was_ gross, Sengoku-san!"

The only one who remained silent amidst the laughter was Mizuki. And the rest of the group noticed.

"_Doshita_, Mizuki?" Sengoku sobered up, "Didn't find the joke too funny, huh?"

Mizuki started when he realized that they were talking to him. He tore his gaze away from the open double doors of the lobby and shook his head. His face was a little uncharacteristically pale when he turned to the expecting group. "E-Eh? Uh, no. I was just. . ." He trailed off. "I think I saw Tezuka-kun walk by. With a young woman in white floating in his wake."


	3. A Night Fit for Screams

* * *

Disclaimer: Characters depicted in the story aren't mine. They belong to Takeshi Konomi.

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! Gomen if this chapter's a little rushed. But... oh well... ; Hope you enjoy this.

A Strange Weekend

Drumming his fingers on the table, Yoshirou Akazawa leaned back on his chair as he contemplated which chess piece he should move to avoid getting checkmated by his challenger. His opponent was really good in the game, he had to admit. He had only a few wins in his record whenever he faced this particular player. He shook his head and moved his bishop four paces to the left. He had his eyes on his opponent's queen. And the bishop was his only hope into stopping the mighty piece from attacking his king.  
  
Akazawa's opponent only took five seconds to think of her next move. She then strategically placed her knight before her queen, effectively blocking Akazawa's bishop, and, at the same time, putting his rook into peril. He gritted his teeth in frustration at the speed on how she countered his well thought out move in just a few moments.  
  
"Tch," Akazawa muttered under his breath. "Damn Mizuki and his Mac."  
  
The St. Rudolph _buchou_ saw Mizuki's Macintosh lying on his bed earlier that night and decided to play with it for a while, leaving Tachibana who was in the room with him to entertain himself with a book. He didn't worry about intruding into Mizuki's privacy when it came to his PowerBook. The data gatherer had been quite generous with lending the Apple to him. Mizuki, however, warned him off not to open the files located in the Player Profiles and Weaknesses Folder. And Akazawa, who was not the least bit interested in Mizuki's research, respected the request. After all, who would want to know some guy's playing behavior and sometimes, even their eating habits?  
  
"About to lose again, aren't you?" Tachibana, without any hint of sarcasm nor sneering in his voice, observed when he heard his fellow captain curse the Apple for the third time that night.  
  
"Yeah," Akazawa replied honestly, shrugging his shoulders then quitting the game. "Mizuki's better with games like these. He even has _Go_ and _Shougi_ installed in his Mac."  
  
"Mind games, huh?"  
  
Akazawa nodded. "He likes strategies, schemes, and manipulations and..." his voice trailed off when he realized how terribly rude he sounded when he spoke of his teammate. He looked back at Tachibana who had his eyebrows raised, waiting for him to continue. The St. Rudolph _buchou_ cleared his throat. "I'm not saying that he enjoys manipulating people but... Ah, just forget what I said."  
  
"Forget what?" Tachibana cleverly replied before going back to his book.  
  
Taking Tachibana's dismissal as a sign that their conversation's closed, Akazawa returned his attention back to the Mac and scanned some okay-to- read files Mizuki saved in his folders. He then saw the file that read Matsunagi Convention Center and clicked it open.  
  
The document was downloaded from the net and as he continued to read, he felt chills crawling up his spine.  
  
_...Rumored to be a gateway leading to the netherworld, the Matsunagi Convention Center has long been known as one of the most haunted buildings in Japan. Sightings ranging from headless specters to bloodied apparitions have been reported seen by guests staying overnight in the center.  
  
"Some friends and I stayed in Matsunagi for a three day seminar last summer," 17 year old Shin Arisugawa relays to the paper his uncanny experience in the said Convention Center, "I don't know what happened but on the second day, I found myself suddenly awake in the middle of the night. The room was really quiet since everyone in the room was already asleep that I could totally hear their snores. I was lying on the top bunk and I turned to stare at the ceiling, waiting for a few minutes for sleep to catch me again . And that's when I saw her.  
_  
_"There was this woman in white who looked like in her early twenties, spread out on the ceiling just a few feet above me! Her arms were open wide as if holding herself on the ceiling, and her dark hair framed a really pale face. And what totally freaked me out was that she was watching me with that blank dead gaze of hers! I will never forget that look. It was really creepy! I was so scared I screamed!"  
  
Another account from a 34 year old mechanical engineer, Hisashi Sato, narrates his story during his stay in the center. "I was half asleep when it happened," he says, "I saw my wife sitting by the dressing table, brushing her hair languidly and humming a tune I barely recognized. Calling out to her, I told her to come to bed already since we were going to have an early start the next day. She didn't answer so I turned to my side to go back to sleep. And that's when my groggy mind finally registered that my wife didn't wear her hair long.  
_  
_"The humming stopped and I heard her walking toward the bed. I felt the mattress dip behind me but didn't dare open my eyes for the fear of seeing what she looked like. I could feel her breathing on the back of my neck. The woman, whoever she was, stayed by my side for God knows how long, as if waiting for me to turn and look at her. I didn't. I continued to pretend asleep until I felt her leave my bed."  
  
A student from Akayama Junior High, Toujo Akari, relates his own experience in the Convention Center when he...  
_  
Akazawa couldn't take it anymore. He closed the window and clicked the Mac shut.

* * *

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!"  
  
"Yeah!" Sengoku cheered, jogging toward Oishi, and raised his hand up for a high five. The latter laughingly returned it. "Three points for us. The opponent: zilch!"  
  
"But you barely did anything, Sengoku-san!" Kamio protested and stood up. He looked at Minami, his charades partner, and waited for him to agree. Minami merely raised his hands, palms up, and shrugged.  
  
"I crouched," Sengoku replied.  
  
"He crouched," Oishi nodded his head solemnly, seconding the motion. Kamio sighed.  
  
The Yamabuki Reps invited the Hyotei, Seigaku, Fudomine, and the St. Rudolph students to their room after the ghost story telling in the lobby to check on Minami's "decapitated friend". Atobe and Mizuki declined the offer, saying that they were uninterested and tired, and decided to just go back to their respective rooms to turn in for the night, leaving Oishi and Kamio with Sengoku and Minami. The Yamabuki/Gyokurin quarters was empty when they got there and concluded that the Gyokurin Reps were in another room, hanging out with some friends.  
  
It was either that or they too saw the ghost and ran out of the room in fear.  
  
When they opened the door and saw nothing strange inside, the four students laughed at their idiotic idea of ghost hunting and decided to just stay in the room and hang out for a while. And that was when Kamio came up with the idea of playing charades.  
  
"I knew playing a girly game like charades was stupid," the 8th grader muttered under his breath and slumped back on his seat. "Who's idea was it anyway?"  
  
"It was yours, Kamio," Oishi replied not unkindly.  
  
"Oh," the speed demon reddened in embarrassment. He then frowned, "Well, I was bored out of my wits, that's why I suggested it. And besides, if you didn't want to play, you should've said so."  
  
"You're the only one complaining here," Sengoku stated the obvious. "We were having fun, actually."  
  
"Yeah, because you're winning," Kamio grumbled. "And I could barely understand how Oishi-san got the answer with just you crouching."  
  
"Well, I guess it's because great minds think alike," Sengoku answered with a grin and nudged his charades partner. "Right, Oishi? I bet if we play doubles, we're going to be unbeatable."  
  
The Seigaku vice captain laughed in return, "Maybe. Have you ever played doubles?"  
  
"Nope. But the Jimmies could give me some points."  
  
"Don't call us that!" Minami said, his face reddening.  
  
A knock on the door interrupted the laughter that followed Minami's outburst. The Yamabuki captain stood up and answered the door.  
  
"Good evening, kids," one of the teachers in the center greeted them as he stepped inside the room. He looked from one teen to another and gave them a warm smile. "I'm just here to tell you that it's already ten in the evening. I suggest that you sleep early and not stay up too late. The seminar will start early tomorrow, if you remember."  
  
All four answered in affirmative. The balding man nodded and turned to leave. As he was about to close the door after him, he paused and turned around to look at them again. "By the way, if you hear someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night, do not answer it."  
  
All ears perked up at the warning. The four students looked at one another, the cogwheels of their minds turning sharply as one explanation formed in their heads. Still, they had to confirm their thoughts.  
  
"Not answer the door?" Sengoku asked, "Why is that, _sensei_?"  
  
The teacher looked uncomfortable for a while, deciding if he should tell them the truth or not. He settled on the latter. "Just don't," he said firmly, "No matter how insistent the knocks will be, do not open the door."  
  
"But if it was an emergency of some sort..."  
  
"Then ask what the person wants before opening the door. Just don't answer it without knowing who's on the other side."  
  
"_Sensei_," it was Kamio who spoke up, a look of discomfort and fear settling on his face. "Is it true? Is this place really haunted?"  
  
The teacher didn't answer. And that merely confirmed their suspicions.  
  
"S-Sengoku-san..." Kamio gulped and turned to the only skeptic in the room. Fear was contagious. And so was bravery. If one of them remained unbelieving, then perhaps he could gain courage from that little act of sanity, overcome his apprehension on the matter being discussed, and stop shaking like a ninny. He almost wished that the other skeptic, Atobe-san, was also in the room with them since Sengoku-san wasn't saying anything remotely helpful. Kamio was sure the Hyotei captain was going to remain stubborn about it and merely scoff at the teacher's warning.  
  
It was Oishi who spoke after a few moments, "We understand, _sensei_. We will do as we're told."  
  
The teacher sighed in relief. "Good. Now, off to bed, all of you," he said before closing the door after him.  
  
"I feel faint," Kamio groaned before he slumped down on his seat.

* * *

Atobe was on his way to the Hyotei/Seigaku room when he saw Tezuka rounding the corner that also led toward their quarters. Tezuka barely nodded in acknowledgment when he saw the Hyotei captain. Silence reigned between the two as they trudged down the hallway side by side, each deep in his own thoughts.  
  
Tiny footsteps behind them alerted the two after a long while and they froze in their tracks. The footsteps behind them stopped as well. Tezuka and Atobe, without an ounce of expression on their faces, looked at each other astutely. As if a silent message passed between them, they began to walk toward their room again. The footsteps behind them followed suit.  
  
Atobe, his patience finally thinning, whirled around to face whoever was following them. Standing only a few feet away from him was a little girl dressed in her white sleeping gown, gazing up at him with an innocent look on her face.  
  
Not the least bit concerned if the girl was lost, Atobe haughtily tipped his head back and said, "Listen, kid, stop following me and go back to your room. I have no time for the likes of you."  
  
The girl inclined her head in confusion.  
  
Then she smiled widely, transforming her cherubic face into that of a goblin child's, as she held out her little hands to him. "Let's play," she said, her eyes flashing bright yellow.  
  
"What the---?" Involuntarily, Atobe took a step back.  
  
"Let's play!" The girl said again, her voice turning a little guttural as she giggled menacingly, and started to run toward him.  
  
Turning around, Atobe found his stoical companion already some fifty feet away from him, not running but merely walking away from the possessed demon child, as if oblivious to what was happening behind him. Atobe cursed under his breath and broke into a sprint.  
  
Running away wasn't cowardice, he thought to himself. It was survival! Who knew what would happen if the child caught up with him?  
  
"If I were you, I'd start running, Tezuka!" Atobe warned his rival when he breezed past him.  
  
The Seigaku Captain narrowed his eyes when Atobe ran past him. He looked behind him and found the child chasing them in a rather fast pace that her little chubby legs could never possibly be capable of, her eyes flashing yellow as she cried, "Let's play, _onii-chan_!"  
  
When he realized that she was homing in on Atobe and not on him, Tezuka merely sidestepped and let the child run past him.  
  
"_Gambatte_, Atobe," he called after the Hyotei Captain in the deep, calm monotone of his. "Don't get careless."  
  
Atobe never thought he'd live to see the day Tezuka would crack a joke, however inappropriate a time it was. And besides, it wasn't funny. The little girl wasn't ordinary; she wasn't even human! It was only natural that he ran away from that goblin child. She looked like she could whip out a meat cleaver out of thin air and start butchering him.  
  
He'd rather not die in such a disgraceful fashion. Still, he wondered, why didn't the child even notice the Seigaku Captain?  
  
Nearing the Seigaku/Hyotei Room, Atobe decided to ignore Tezuka's rather unexpected and most outrageous comment and pushed the door open. He quickly slipped inside and locked the door after him.  
  
What the hell was that? he thought as he wiped the back of his long sleeve across his forehead. Where in the world did she come from?  
  
"Damn that _gaki_... Tezuka!" Atobe was muttering under his breath and almost shouted the name in surprise and bewilderment when he turned away from the door and saw the bronze haired boy sitting by the window, with a thick detective novel in hand. "The hell are you doing here? Weren't you just outside?"  
  
"I was here the whole evening," looking up, Tezuka replied calmly.  
  
Anger simmered as he remembered what Tezuka told him back in the hallway, "You're lying."  
  
Tezuka's eyes narrowed a fraction, "I never left the room."  
  
"Oh yeah? Then who was walking with me in the corridor when that little girl..." Atobe's voice trailed off when he replayed the sequence of events that happened in the hallway in his mind. He frowned.  
  
_"Gambatte, Atobe," he called after the Hyotei Captain in the deep, calm monotone of his. "Don't get careless."  
_  
Atobe didn't really know Tezuka but from what he had gathered about him, the Seigaku Captain was never one to goad. Right? Then who was that in the hallway with him? His doppelganger?  
  
Was it even remotely possible that something like that actually existed?  
  
A series of knocks interrupted his thoughts. Atobe whipped his head to look at the closed door. Could that be him? The _other _Tezuka? Atobe wondered what would happen if the real Tezuka saw his doppelganger. Didn't they say that if someone saw his doppelganger, it would mean his imminent death?  
  
"Tezuka, are you there? It's Oishi," the muffled voice on the other side called out, "Why's the door locked?"  
  
When Atobe made no move to open the door, Tezuka stood up and crossed the room. He pulled open the door and moved back to let the vice captain in.  
  
"_Domo_, Tezuka," Oishi said and stepped inside the room. "One of the teachers probably told you to lock the door too, huh? All of the _sensei_s must be doing their rounds right about now." He then looked past Tezuka, to Atobe who stood in the middle of the room. "Ah, Atobe, there you are. You have a guest."  
  
"_What?_"  
  
The Hyotei Captain then watched in horror as the little goblin girl who chased him down the hall appeared on the doorway.  
  
"Is that the _onii-chan_ you were talking about?" Oishi asked the little girl with an indulgent smile on his kind face as he pointed at Atobe, "The one with the dark hair?"  
  
The girl bobbed her head enthusiastically and moved toward the stunned captain, a demonic smile breaking on her face as she looked at Atobe, "Let's play, _onii-chan_!"  
  
And quite unexpectedly, Keigo Atobe was the first one to scream that night.

* * *

The second one was Yoshirou Akazawa when he opened the door that separated their bathroom from their bedroom and found himself face to face with a large eyed, white faced ghost. Akazawa roared the same way he did during the match with the Golden Pair back in Tokyo. But this time, it was due to absolute fear and not in frustration.  
  
Curiously, the ghost was waving his hands wildly around him as if telling him to shut up. It was then that Akazawa really looked at the "ghost".  
  
"Mizuki?" Akazawa exclaimed, his eyes widening in recognition.  
  
Mizuki nodded in exasperation as he folded his arms on his chest.  
  
"Don't scare me like that!" Akazawa reprimanded the team manager with a scowl, "And don't walk around looking like that! What's that on your face anyway?"  
  
His lips barely moving, Mizuki answered, "It's a beauty mask. I put one on every night and wait for it to dry before I peel it off. That's why I can't speak much."  
  
"What does it do?" despite his best intention not to pry, Akazawa couldn't help but be curious with vanity.  
  
"It removes facial hair, cleans my skin pores, removes dead skin cells..."  
  
"D-Does it work?"  
  
Mizuki looked at his captain and smirked, "You want to try?"

* * *

Akira Kamio was the third to scream that night when he opened the door to the Fudomine/St. Rudolph quarters and found two white faced figures sitting by the dressing table.  
  
"UUUWWAAAAAHHH!!!!! WEIRDOS!!!"

* * *

A series of terrified screams by the Tokyo students from the Matsunagi Convention Center was that night's sweet lullaby. Doors were continuously banged shut. Heavy footfalls outside the hallway were heard. And still, none of the students dared to go out of their rooms to check on what was happening outside their quarters.  
  
It was indeed a night fit for screams.  
  
And probably, the only one who enjoyed a peaceful night was Jirou Akutagawa. 


	4. Going Back

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews. I very much appreciate them. This is going to be the final chapter of the story. Thank you for reading until the end. You may hate me for what I did in the ending but the idea has been in my head from the moment I started this fanfic. This isn't going to be happy so I guess I'm going to expect different kinds of reviews for it. Eh heh heh... crosses fingers ;

Disclaimer: Characters depicted in the story aren't mine. They belong to Takeshi Konomi.

A Strange Weekend

Someone was roughly pulling away the blanket draped over his body. Akira Kamio groaned sleepily and jerked the blanket back to him. A few moments passed and someone pulled it away from him again.

"Stop it," Kamio growled in frustration as he yanked it back again, his eyes remaining closed as he did so. But the one interrupting his sleep was insistent and he pulled again. And a tug-of-war with a blanket commenced. The 8th grader was fast loosing his patience and jerked the blanket back to him again.

And caught a handful of long dry hair as he did so.

_Long hair?_ The slow realization flooded through his sleep induced mind and Kamio stilled, his grip on the blanket loosening. _Long hair?_ His mind railed at him again. _Who among the students in the center had such long rough hair?_

Afraid to open his eyes and see for himself, he turned on his side and pretended to remain asleep. He felt the bed move when that _someone_ stood up from beside him. Kamio took that opportunity to check whoever was interrupting his sleep and opened one eye.

5.30 am, the glowing digital clock on the side table blinked at him. And with the help of the faint morning light peeking through the Venetian blinds, he saw a woman in white standing before the dresser, her stiff back toward him, brushing her hair angrily as if Kamio's accidental pull on her hair had hurt her. Kamio whimpered in fear.

As if hearing that small sound behind her, the woman started to turn back to him and walk toward him. Kamio couldn't take it anymore and he screamed, waking his roommates with the shrill sound.

* * *

"Tachibana."

The Fudomine captain straightened up from tying his shoes and looked up at the bronze haired teen standing motionlessly in front of him. Kippei Tachibana sat alone on a bench outside the center and was gearing himself up for his usual early morning run when the Seigaku _buchou_ suddenly appeared. He quickly diverted his gaze back to his shoes and resumed tying them when he saw the same raven-haired, pale-faced phantom still clinging on to the expressionless captain.

Meeting her dead blank gaze once again proved to be truly disconcerting.

"You can see her," Tezuka observed.

"_Aa_, and so can you," Tachibana was a little surprised at the revelation. He stood up and started warming up his muscles with stretches, careful not to look in Tezuka's direction as he did so, "it's unusual for someone like you to see her as well. It doesn't work that way."

"_Sou ka_?" Tezuka replied quietly.

"Well? You wanted to say something?" Tachibana asked when Tezuka remained silent beside him.

"I remember the accident."

"I see."

"You were right. I shouldn't be here."

"You're leaving?"

Tezuka nodded in response, "She is being insistent."

"_She_?" Tachibana frowned in confusion then his gaze settled on the woman clinging on to Tezuka. "Oh, her," the Fudomine _buchou_ nodded toward the phantom draped lovingly around Tezuka's shoulders.

And without Tezuka's affirmation, he, Tachibana, finally understood the situation.

The woman was a _shinigami_, a god of death, someone who led souls toward the underworld. And she was taking Tezuka with her because he no longer belonged to their world. She smiled mysteriously at the Fudomine ­_buchou_ when their gazes met briefly. "She'll lead you to the other side, huh?"

Tezuka nodded once again and turned to leave, "I'm going to go see Oishi before I go. _Arigatou_, Tachibana."

"_Sayonara_, Tezuka. I doubt we would be seeing each other again."

* * *

Oishi sat up from his bed and yawned as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. It was a peaceful Sunday morning, the last day they were spending in the convention center, and he felt great. He for one couldn't wait to get back home. Well, not that it's because the place was haunted or anything but because he was missing Tokyo already.

The Seigaku _fuku buchou_ climbed down from the top bunk and headed straight to the bathroom. Realizing that it was already occupied, his gaze rested on the double-decked bed on the Hyotei side. Snoring softly, Akutagawa still occupied the top bunk while the bottom one was empty. Atobe had beaten him to the bath and he couldn't do anything but wait until he finished.

Oishi pulled his overnight bag toward him from under the bed to get fresh set of clothes to wear and sat on Tezuka's already made-up bed. He shook his head in amazement as he looked at the neatly folded bed sheets on top of the pillow. His best friend really liked to keep his things orderly. The bottom bunk didn't even look like it was occupied the night before. He looked around for any stuff Tezuka left lying in the room and chuckled when he found none. Most of the stuff littered on the floor was his, Atobe's, and Akutagawa's.

Tezuka did not misplace any of his items at all. His friend was so organized that no trace of him could be found. It was as if Tezuka wasn't even bunking in the room with them.

The cheerful sound of children playing outside the center caught Oishi's attention. He looked up and saw children laughing and running around outside their bedroom window as they played a game of tag. More and more people were coming to the center, he noticed, making the place livelier than it was when they first arrived.

"Shizuru-chan! You're the ­_oni_!" A dark haired boy called out to a blonde girl as he tapped her shoulder. The children then ran away from the said girl when she began to give chase. Oishi smiled to himself as he watched the children play. He had always liked kids. And for him, lively children were always a pleasant sight to see early in the morning.

The dark haired boy, who was the previous _oni_, stopped just outside the Seigaku/Hyotei window, a little smile playing on his lips as he watched his playmates run around. As if sensing that someone was watching him, the boy whirled around and looked straight at Oishi. His smile widened when he saw Oishi and he waved at the older boy. The friendly 9th grader waved back.

The boy then pointed at the window latch as if telling Oishi to open it so that they could talk.

Oishi was about to walk toward the window to do just that when the bathroom door opened. Garbed in a long dark blue bathrobe, Atobe stepped out as he towel dried his dark hair. The Hyotei _buchou_ tipped his head toward the now empty shower area when he found Oishi already awake. "Your turn," Atobe said.

Looking back to the window, Oishi watched the boy run back toward his friends to resume playing tag with them. _Changed his mind?_ Oishi thought and smiled indulgently. He gathered his things from the bed and stepped inside the bathroom. Only to step right back out when he took a strong whiff of Atobe's rather expensive custom-made French perfume inside. He coughed and waved a hand in front of his face to ward off the strong scent. "What did you do, Atobe?" the Seigaku _fuku buchou_ sneezed, "Pour out the whole content of your perfume in the bathtub?" The scent was going to cling on Akutagawa, Tezuka, and him the whole day, he was sure of it.

"Don't be ridiculous," Atobe scoffed with a careless wave of his hand, "the size of that pathetic bathtub only requires less than a quarter of a 50 ml bottle. Now if I were back home, a 100 ml for my daily bath wouldn't even be enough." Atobe was about to say more when he finally noticed the children playing happily outside their room.

Oishi's brows furrowed in confusion when he saw Atobe's features uncharacteristically turn pale at the sight of the children. Maybe he never really liked kids? He reasoned out to himself, remembering how the Hyotei captain reacted when he saw the cute girl Oishi led inside the room last night.

"_Doshita_, Atobe?"

"_Na_, Oishi, isn't the other side of that window supposedly a cliff?"

* * *

"Whoa, Kuki, you look horrible!" Sengoku laughed as he and Minami saw the Kakinoki captain lounging in the ante room that led to the conference hall where the seminar was going to take place that morning. "You look as bad as Minami here," he said, pointing to his captain who stood beside him.

His scar twitching, Kuki glared at the Yamabuki Reps, "You're sickeningly animated as always, Sengoku. You look like you had a good night's sleep."

"No way," Sengoku quickly countered with a shake of his head, "I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night when I felt an uneasy weight on my chest. I looked and found a girl's head resting on it, asking me ever so politely if I happened to see where her body had gone to!"

Kuki paled at Sengoku's words. He stared at the Yamabuki _fuku buchou_, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets in disbelief. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out.

"_Joudan_, _joudan_!" Sengoku laughed at his joke when Kuki looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Yet, the Kaninoki captain did not move from his spot.

Minami rubbed his temples, "You've shocked him to speechlessness, Sengoku."

"It must have happened to him," the Yamabuki _fuku buchou_ grinned sheepishly. "_Warui_, Kuki. You okay?" he asked, waving his hand in front of Kuki's face.

Kiichi Kuki remained motionless.

"What's wrong with him?" Oishi asked, looking at Kuki, as he, Atobe, and Akutagawa joined the Yamabuki students.

"Sengoku scared him off with a ghost story," Minami sighed.

"I was only kidding!" Sengoku shrugged his shoulders and was about to say more when he got a whiff of the strong perfume emanating from the three. "Boy, you sure smell alike," he stepped back from them before he lost all ability to differentiate scent.

"Long story," Oishi sighed and looked around. Most of the students were already in the ante room, waiting for the teachers to let them in the conference hall for the seminar.

But there was still no sign of Tezuka.

"Hey, have you guys seen Tez—?"

"_Ohayou_, _minna_," Mizuki's greeting interrupted Oishi in mid sentence as he, Akazawa, Tachibana, and Kamio joined the group. "Did everyone sleep well last night?" He asked with a meaningful smile on his face.

"I can tell you didn't, Kamio," Sengoku laughed when he got a good look at the Fudomine junior, "Your eyes are all red."

The red head didn't bother replying. He was still trembling from the experience he had earlier that day.

"Kamio here woke us up when he screamed his lungs out," Akazawa explained, "when we asked what happened, he didn't answer."

"He _couldn't_ answer," Mizuki corrected his captain. "Kamio-kun's—"

"T-The ghost..." Kamio interrupted Mizuki softly, his throat working as he gulped. "The woman... t-told me that I'm... t-that we're..." he trailed off.

"What did she say?" Sengoku was curious.

Kamio gulped yet again, "S-She said that... I'm d-dead."

Six pairs of eyes rounded at Kamio's softly spoken words while Tachibana remained impassive.

"She threatened you?" Akazawa's eyes narrowed at the shaking junior.

"I don't know..." he shook his head in confusion, "it felt like she's warning me of—"

"Okay, boys!" One of the teachers yelled from the open double doors to catch their attention, cutting Kamio off mid sentence, "The seminar will start in a few minutes. Get inside and grab some seats."

As the students moved to do as they were told, Oishi glanced behind him when Tachibana lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "What is it?" he asked.

"Tezuka wants to speak to you," Tachibana answered, gesturing toward the open door leading to the hallway. And true to his words, the Seigaku captain was standing quietly by the doorway, waiting for Oishi to approach him.

"_Domo_," Oishi said and made a beeline toward his quiet captain. Tachibana watched for a few seconds as the two longtime friends greeted each other, a wide smile placed on the vice captain's face while a stoical expression on the captain's. And then he turned and followed the group inside the conference hall. He wouldn't want to see Oishi's face when Tezuka told him the truth.

"You're late, Tezuka," Oishi was saying, "We should get going now, the seminar is about to start."

"I'm leaving, Oishi."

"What?" the smiling senior asked in surprise, "Like now? We're leaving this afternoon so what's the rush?"

"I don't belong here."

"What are you talking about?" Oishi laughed softly but something at the back of his mind was telling him that something was wrong; the hairs at the back of his neck were suddenly prickling. Was he missing something here? "Come on, _buchou_, we're late for the training already." He smiled and made a grab for Tezuka's arm to pull him toward the room.

But he only grasped air.

Oishi involuntarily took a step back from his friend. Wide green eyes met steely gray ones. "T-Tezuka?"

"Remember the bus accident, Oishi?" The captain's calm voice cut through the million questions running inside Oishi's confused mind. What's he saying? What accident? Why was Tezuka acting this way? Why couldn't he grab hold of his best friend? Where was he going? How come it felt like he's going to a place where he could never reach him?

What the hell was going on?

* * *

"Eh? Where's Oishi-kun?" Mizuki asked when he noticed that the Seigaku vice captain wasn't in the air-conditioned hall with them. As they grabbed their seats, the dark haired data collector inclined his head toward the ante room and saw Oishi standing by the hallway. "What's he doing?"

"Talking to Tezuka, isn't that obvious?" Atobe, who sat beside Mizuki, replied lazily.

Hearing the Hyotei captain's answer, Sengoku swiveled around on his seat to look at them, "Tezuka? He's here?"

"Of course, he's here," Atobe replied dryly, motioning a hand toward the open doors of the hall, "He's been here since yesterday, didn't you notice?"

"He's not here with us, Atobe," Akazawa joined in the conversation.

"What are you talking about?" Atobe scoffed. "He attended the seminar yesterday. He was sitting beside Oishi."

Sengoku, Akazawa, Minami, and Mizuki looked at him as if he already lost his arrogant mind. All four shared a meaningful look before they returned their gazes to Atobe. It was Minami who finally spoke, "The seat beside Oishi yesterday was empty, Atobe. No one was sitting there."

"Tezuka was," the Hyotei Captain insisted, his patience thinning at the disbelieving look they were giving him. Were they playing a stupid joke on him? Well, it wasn't funny. "He was even bunking with us last night," he nudged Akutagawa who was sitting almost half-asleep on his right, "_na_, Jirou?"

"There were only three of us in the room last night, Atobe," Akutagawa, who half-listened on the conversation, yawned. "The bottom bunk on the Seigaku side was unoccupied."

"Oishi is the only Seigaku representative here," Mizuki added.

Atobe opened his mouth to speak. Then closed it again when no sound came out. For the first time in his life, he was speechless. And was totally unsure of himself. Were they telling the truth? What did this all mean? Atobe's mind replayed all the events that happened from the moment they arrived in the center. And now that he thought about it, the only people who interacted with Tezuka were him and Oishi. Jirou didn't talk to him when they first walked toward their quarters. Nor did he even acknowledge the Seigaku captain when they joined their roommates.

No, it's impossible.

"Are you telling me that what I saw was Tezuka's ghost?" Atobe scoffed in disbelief yet again. But it sounded less convinced and quite unsure even to his own ears. "Are you telling me that he's dead?"

When an uneasy silence met his statement, Tachibana finally spoke up, "Do you guys remember how we got here?"

All heads turned to Tachibana's direction when he placed the seemingly innocent question to them. Akazawa looked away as he thought of the answer, Sengoku leaned back on his cushioned seat in silence, Mizuki stared blankly on the acoustically treated wall of the conference room, Minami closed his eyes, and Atobe narrowed his gaze toward the Fudomine captain. "What does that have to do with any--?"

"We were on a bus," Kamio cut Atobe off and answered for them quietly. "I remember now."

"I heard an explosion," Sengoku added after a while.

"Yes, and the bus was careening out of control," Mizuki said.

"We were falling," Akazawa stated, "and then darkness swallowed us."

"And then, we wake up to find ourselves already here," Minami finished the tale, "as if nothing happened."

Tachibana nodded, "Tezuka isn't the ghost. He's not the one who's dead."

"No," Oishi suddenly said from behind them as he stepped inside the conference hall, "we are."

* * *

"_Buchou_'s awake," Kaidoh voice was filled with relief when he noticed Tezuka's eyes slowly open, alerting the rest of the Seigaku team of their captain's state. All seven regulars crowded around the bed to see for themselves that their _buchou_ was indeed all right.

Tezuka's drug induced state made it difficult for him to focus on his surroundings. It took quite a while for him to realize that he was inside a hospital room. The smell of antiseptic permeated in the air. The sound of a strong and constant beeping that monitored his condition filled the uncomfortable silence in the white walled room. His gaze settled on his teammates standing around him, their faces showing different degrees of relief.

"Welcome back, Tezuka," Fuji was the first one to speak.

"T-Tezuka _buchou_!" Momoshiro cried out, making his captain slightly wince at the loud outburst.

"_Baka_ powerhouse, stop yelling!" Kaidoh was quick to reprimand his rival, causing yet another wince from the captain.

"You shut up, _baka mamushi_!" Momoshiro retorted as he grabbed a fistful of Kaidoh's shirt in his hand. Before Kaidoh could even speak, Echizen interrupted the two.

"_Senpai-tachi_, you're going to make _buchou_ wish he's dead because of all the racket you're making."

"Echizen!" This time, all five regulars reprimanded the freshman.

"_Gomen_."

"Tezuka. How're you feeling?" Kawamura asked, returning all the attention to their captain. Tezuka's throat worked as he tried to speak. A weak sound came out of his mouth and he tried again.

"O-Oishi..."

With that one word, Kikumaru burst out crying. Fuji looked grim as he walked toward Kikumaru and offered a comforting arm around his shoulders. Kaidoh and Momoshiro closed their eyes and fisted their hands at the loss of their sub-captain. Kawamura turned around and was quietly shedding tears as well. Echizen and Inui stood silently and unmoving from their spot. Tezuka closed his eyes, taking in deep breaths to stop himself from weeping for the loss of his best friend as well.

"...he told me..." Tezuka continued weakly, his eyes remaining closed as he spoke, "...that he's happy... to have met... and played with us." He paused as he released a long, shuddering breath. "And he... doesn't want us to... mourn any longer than it is necessary."

Tezuka opened his eyes and looked at his teammates. A slight trembling smile lit at the corner of his lips as he remembered Oishi's final wish. "He told me... to tell you... not to duel in tennis... with dates on the line."

* * *

"How is Tezuka-san?" Shinji Ibu asked the moment the Fudomine regulars saw the Seigaku regulars step out of their captain's room. Kikumaru and Momoshiro volunteered to stay with Tezuka in the room for the night. Inui, Fuji, Kaidoh, and Echizen were about to go home when the Fudomine team intercepted them.

"Recovering," Inui answered Ibu's question.

"I'm sorry to hear about Tachibana and Kamio," Fuji said solemnly as he offered his hand in condolences. Shinji accepted it and so did the rest of his team. It was truly a tragic incident that happened in Tokyo's Junior High Tennis Teams. Each team lost its solid foundations, their captain and sub-captain. Seigaku was lucky to at least have one of them back.

"How did this happen anyway?" Sakurai asked. "What happened?"

"The cause of the accident was a front tire-burst," Inui explained, "The bus was climbing the mountain and turning at a sharp point when it happened. The driver lost control of the vehicle and smashed right into the railings. It gave way and the bus fell down the cliff on a thirty feet drop."

"Atobe, Oishi, and Tezuka were found barely alive after the accident and were quickly rushed to the hospital," Fuji took a deep breath, "but only Tezuka survived."


End file.
